Books!

The Gender Book by Mel Reiff Hill and Jay Mays

the GENDER book is a fun, colorful, community based resource, which illustrates the beautiful diversity of gender – a gender 101 for anyone and everyone.

The Every Body Book: The LGBTQ+ Inclusive Guide for Kids about Sex, Gender, Bodies, and Families by Rachel E. Simon

An illustrated LGBTQ+ inclusive kid’s guide to sex, gender and relationships education that includes children and families of all genders and sexual orientations, covering puberty, hormones, consent, sex, pregnancy and safety.

A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson

Archie, a snarky genderqueer artist, is tired of people not understanding gender neutral pronouns. Tristan, a cisgender dude, is looking for an easy way to introduce gender neutral pronouns to his increasingly diverse workplace. The longtime best friends team up in this short and fun comic guide that explains what pronouns are, why they matter, and how to use them. A quick and easy resource for people who use they/them pronouns, and people who want to learn more!

The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids: A Guide to Exploring Who You Are by Kelly Storck

The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids offers fun, age-appropriate activities to help your child explore their identity and discover unique ways to navigate gender expression at home, in school, and with friends.

Who Are You? The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity by Brook Pessin-Whedbee

An interactive wheel is used to help children explore a wide range of diverse gender identities and expressions.

BunnyBear by Andrea J. Loney

What does it feel like to be born a bear but feel like a bunny? Bunnybear gently explores how to feel good about one’s own identity.

Introducing Teddy: A Gentle Story About Gender & Friendship by Jessica Walton

Introducing Teddy seeks to help young readers understand gender and what it means to transition. When Thomas, Errol’s teddy, builds up the courage to tell Errol, “In my heart, I’ve always known that I’m a girl teddy, not a boy teddy. I wish my name was Tilly, not Thomas,” Errol responds with love and acceptance for his best friend. and together they teach children about being your true self.

Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah and Ian Hoffman

Jacob wants nothing more than his own dress. While his parents and peers initially don’t accept his love for dresses, his mom helps him sew a dress of his own, and wearing it to school his peers come to understand that it’s okay for someone labeled a boy to wear dresses.

Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall

A crayon has a red wrapper around it, and the other crayons assume that it’s a red crayon, but it’s actually a blue crayon! This crayon struggles as it is constantly told to draw red things, until one day it is asked to draw something blue. At last it is accepted as a blue crayon, and enjoys drawing blue pictures with the other crayons.

I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings

Based off the true story of Jazz Jennings, this book takes readers through her childhood life as she realized she is a girl despite the fact she was labeled a boy at birth. A good book for explaining transgender identities to children, as it provides them a character at their age with which they can relate.

Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

Julian is obsessed with mermaids, and with his beloved abuela, attends a festival where everyone looks like a favorite mermaid and he shines. Beautifully illustrated!

My New Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein

Cultural theorists have written loads of smart but difficult-to-fathom texts on gender theory, but most fail to provide a hands-on, accessible guide for those trying to sort out their own sexual identities. My Gender Workbook, brings theory down to Earth and provides a practical approach to living with or without a gender.

The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens & Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity by Rylan Jay Testa & Deborah Coolhart

This one-of-a-kind, comprehensive workbook will help you navigate your gender identity and expression at home, in school, and with peers.  The Gender Quest Workbook incorporates skills, exercises, and activities from evidence-based therapies—such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—to help you address the broad range of struggles you may encounter related to gender identity, such as anxiety, isolation, fear, and even depression.

How to Understand Your Gender: A Practical Guide for Exploring Who You Are by Alex Iantaffi and Meg-John Barker

This down-to-earth guide is for anybody who wants to know more about gender, from its biology, history and sociology, to how it plays a role in our relationships and interactions with family, friends, partners and strangers. It looks at practical ways people can express their own gender, and will help you to understand people whose gender might be different from your own. With activities and points for reflection throughout, this book will help people of all genders engage with gender diversity and explore the ideas in the book in relation to their own lived experiences.

Gender Identity Workbook for Teens: Practical Exercises to Navigate Your Exploration, Support Your Journey, and Celebrate Who You Are by Andrew Maxwell Triska

Discover more about who you are and who you might want to become. Whether you’ve been pondering big feelings and questions about your gender, or you’re just a little curious about it, the Gender Identity Workbook for Teens is an interactive workbook that will walk you through what gender identity actually is. You’ll learn that there are endless ways to express yourself and that there’s no right or wrong way to identify.

Gender Identity Guide for Teens: How to clear confusion, overcome fear, discover who you truly are and live as your most authentic self today by Sophia Daniels

Living through teenage years is a challenge we all face and one which is complicated enough for most. But when you are a teenager who is also struggling with gender identity those challenges can become magnified out of all proportion, especially when others find it hard to empathize or understand what you are experiencing. Up until now there hasn’t been a lot of support but this is now changing with the help of this book.

The Social Justice Advocate’s Guide Handbook: A Guide to Gender by Sam Killermann

This is a book about gender, but it’s not “a book about gender.” It’s not overwhelming, it’s not overly complicated, and it’s not exhausting to read. It is a couple hundred pages of gender exploration, social justice how-tos, practical resources, and fun graphics & comics.

George by Alex Gino

George is 10 years old, and while everyone refers to her as a boy, she knows that she is a girl. The author uses female pronouns when referring to George, enforcing to readers that she is in fact a girl. Throughout the story George comes out to her friends, family, and peers at school as transgender, and this conversation starts as she auditions for the role of Charlotte in her school’s production of “Charlotte’s Web”.

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky

Grayson is a transgender girl in the sixth grade. Grayson often feels socially left out at school, but one day bravely auditions for the role of Persephone in the school play. Grayson’s playing the role of the female character ultimately helps her realize that she in fact identifies as a girl, and the support from other students in the play aid in her self-exploration and discovery.

Dotson By Grayson Lee White

Grayson is now twelve years old. This is his story about what it’s like growing up transgender – from small moments, like buying clothes or playing football, to the big life events, like choosing a bathroom, coming out to his friends, and picking a new name. Filled with humor and joy, Dotson is a thought provoking and honest story of one boys Journey to becoming his best and truest self-sharing that with the world.

Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt

This heartwarming story of an ordinary family fighting to make a safer world for their transgender daughter is both engaging and informative. The Maines family’s journey includes conflict with the schools, a landmark court case, the kids’ growing up, Nicole’s transition, and Wayne’s finally coming to terms with having a transgender daughter. It’s an inspiring story and it’s likely to make you think about gender in ways you haven’t before.

Beyond Magenta, Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

Started as a way to explain to their family what nonbinary and asexual means, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere. It’s also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual.

She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan

An accessible, moving and witty memoire of a young adult’s gender affirmation process, including how they came to terms with their identity and the impact on her family, friends and career.

Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen by Arin Andrews

This honest and captivating memoir details the author’s journey through gender affirmation during middle and high school with honesty and humor. In his captivatingly witty, honest voice, Arin reveals the challenges he faced as a boy in a girl’s body, the humiliation and anger he felt after getting kicked out of his private school, and all the changes both mental and physical–he experienced once his transition began. Some Assembly Required is a true coming-of-age story about knocking down obstacles and embracing family, friendship, and first love. But more than that, it is a reminder that self-acceptance does not come ready-made with a manual and spare parts. Rather, some assembly is always required.

The Gender Creative Child by Diane Ehrensaft

This book gives gender creative children and their parents information and support and provides professionals a solid approach to supporting gender creative clients. Psychological, medical and anecdotal stories are woven together into an affirmative and loving celebration of gender creative children and their families to provide a thorough view of all the elements of raising or otherwise supporting a gender creative child. This is a wonderful resource for parents of gender creative kids and others seeking information.

Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Health Gender-Nonconforming Children by Diane Ehrensaft

Dr. Ehrensaft offers parents, clinicians, and educators guidance on both the philosophical dilemmas and the practical, daily concerns of working with children who don’t fit a “typical” gender mold. She debunks outmoded approaches to gender diversity that may actually do children harm. She offers a new framework for helping each child become his or her own unique, most gender-authentic person.

Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt

This heartwarming story of an ordinary family fighting to make a safer world for their transgender daughter is both engaging and informative. The Maines family’s journey includes conflict with the schools, a landmark court case, the kids’ growing up, Nicole’s transition, and Wayne’s finally coming to terms with having a transgender daughter. It’s an inspiring story and it’s likely to make you think about gender in ways you haven’t before.

Parenting Transgender Children: A Guide for Keeping Your Family Strong by Janet Gattis Duke

Very practical yet important tips and a guide to challenges that a parent can expect.  It is particularly good for families that struggle with gender and religion. If your child is exploring their gender identity you probably have questions. Parenting is often tricky but throwing in issues like transgender or gender-nonconforming identity brings us into unknown territory. Please know you do not have to do this alone. There is good, practical, encouraging information available and a lot of it is in this book. Ignore the politicians and focus on keeping your child safe and your family strong. There’s a lot to learn, certainly, but parents tell us over and over their family became closer, more honest and more connected by working through their challenges together.

The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Parents and Professionals Supporting Transgender & Nonbinary Children by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper

The Transgender Child has been lauded as the most trusted source of information for families wanting to understand and affirm their transgender, gender-expansive, or nonbinary child. A ground-breaking classic with coverage of gender development, affirming parenting practices, mental health and wellness, medical decision making, legal advocacy, and how best to ensure school success, from preschool through the high school years. Drawing upon their extensive joint expertise as pioneers in gender affirming care, and enriched with the wisdom of parents who’ve already walked this path, as well as the voices of professional experts, Brill and Pepper provide a compassionate and educational guide for anyone who cares about a child who falls outside expected gender norms.

Helping Your Transgender Teen: A Guide for Parents by Irwin Krieger

Going through puberty and adolescence presents unwelcome changes for transgender youth, and this book provides advice to parents of transgender teens to help them understand what their child is experiencing and feeling during this challenging time.  Addressing common fears and concerns that parents of transgender teens share, the book guides them through steps they can take with their child, including advice on hormones and surgery and how to transition socially. It addresses the recent increase in teens presenting with non-binary identities, and reflects major legal, social and medical developments regarding transgender issues.

The Transgender Teen: A Handbook for Parents and Professionals Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Teens by Stephanie Brill and Lisa Kenney

Separated into easily digestible sections, complete with callouts, questions, and bullets that break down the larger issues, this is a very well-organized book that can be read cover to cover, but is also useful for quick reference needs. It directly addresses the fears and concerns of parents to help enable them to take an active role in being a supportive influence. Overall, this book is a wonderful resource for parents of trans, non-binary, and gender questioning youth.

Raising the Transgender Child: A Complete Guide for Parents, Families & Caregivers by Dr. Michele Angello & Ali Bowman

Addressing the biological, psychological, medical, social, legal, and spiritual aspects of gender identity and expression, this book answers the many questions families have when a child explores gender expression. It dedicates considerable space to resources including websites, faith groups, legal and medical resources, recommended transgender fiction and much more. This is a must-read for every person who has a trans child or teen in their life.

Gender Identity, Sexuality and Autism: Voices from Across the Spectrum by Eva Mendes and Meredith Maroney

Bringing together a collection of narratives from those who are on the autism spectrum whilst also identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and/or asexual (LGBTQIA), this book explores the intersection of the two spectrums as well as the diverse experiences that come with it. By providing knowledge and advice based on in-depth research and personal accounts, the narratives will be immensely valuable to teenagers, adults, partners and families.

Raising Ryland: Our Story of Parenting a Transgender Child with No Strings Attached by Hillary Whittington

The incredible story of one family’s unconditional love for their transgender son.  From the earliest stages of deciphering Ryland through clothing choices to examining the difficult conversations that have marked every stage of Ryland’s transition, Hillary Whittington shares her experiences as a mother through it all, demonstrating both the resistance and support that their family has encountered as they try to erase the stigma surrounding the word transgender. What emerges is a powerful story of unconditional love. (Nonfiction)

Raising My Rainbow: Adventures in Raising a Fabulous, Gender Creative Son by Lori Duron

Whereas her older son, Chase, is a Lego-loving, sports-playing boy’s boy, Lori’s younger son, C.J., would much rather twirl around in a pink sparkly tutu, with a Disney Princess in each hand while singing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi.” Lori has a boy who likes girl stuff—really likes girl stuff. He floats on the gender-variation spectrum from super-macho-masculine on the left all the way to super-girly-feminine on the right. He’s not all pink and not all blue. He’s a muddled mess or a rainbow creation. Lori and her family choose to see the rainbow. (Nonfiction)

This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel

Laurie Frankel’s This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.

Two Spirits, One Heart: A Mother, Her Transgender Son, and Their Journey to Love and Acceptance by Marsha Aizumi

This book contains 32 essays written by mothers of transgender or gender variant children. Each of the stories convey the underlying theme of the book: love your child unconditionally, whether they conform to society’s (and your) expectations or not. The stories give the reader great insight into ways parents manage this often unforeseen life event through their open, frank, and honest retelling of their journeys. This book is an excellent resource for parents of trans people who have just come out, or for trans people who are worried about coming out to their parents.